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Surgeon Arrested For Coming In To Work Drunk

A plastic surgeon in Kentucky was arrested after reportedly coming in to perform a surgery while drunk.

Dr. Theodore Gerstle of Lexington Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery was supposed to operate at the Baptist Heath Lexington on Monday, but staff received news that the doctor was intoxicated, according to Ruth Ann Childers, a hospital spokesperson.

Gerstle left the hospital of his own will and on foot after the chief medical officer confronted him about being drunk, the New York Post reports. Hospital staff then allegedly called the police, and Gerstle was arrested a short time later on Shady Lane, a location not far from the hospital.

The scheduled operation for Monday did not push through, and Gerstle had not started the procedure before staff were notified of his drunken state, Childers told the Lexington Herald Leader.

Childers said,

Patient safety is always our number one concern, every day. We take these things very seriously and it will be thoroughly investigated.

Gerstle was charged with public intoxication and is being held at the Fayette County Jail, according to jail records obtained by the Herald Leader. His staff privileges at the hospital have been suspended until the ongoing investigation finishes and the case has been resolved. The doctor is technically not an employee of the hospital.

The physician’s website states that Gerstle, a native of New York, is “the only Harvard-trained, board-certified plastic surgeon in Lexington.” He graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the United States Military Academy in West Point and “also performs facial rejuvenation, breast surgery, body contouring, emergency repair of lacerations, reconstructive surgery of the head, neck, chest, and breast.”

It remains unclear what type of surgical procedure Gerstle was supposed to perform, but his website states that he specializes in migraine headaches and a variety of plastic surgery treatments. There is no information as yet regarding Gerstle’s future with the hospital, or what will happen to him following the arrest.

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